OpenWork workspace discovery failed (${response.status} ${re

Error message

OpenWork workspace discovery failed (${response.status} ${response.statusText || "HTTP error"})

What it means

createWorkspaceStore performs an HTTP discovery request against an OpenWork server to find workspaces. If the response is not ok (non-2xx), it throws an error embedding the HTTP status and statusText (falling back to "HTTP error"). The request includes a timeout controller, credentials omitted, and no caching.

Source

Thrown at apps/desktop/electron/workspace-store.mjs:745

    const controller = new AbortController();
    const timeout = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 8_000);
    const headers = new Headers();
    const bearerToken = String(token ?? "").trim();
    const hostAuthToken = String(hostToken ?? "").trim();
    if (bearerToken) headers.set("Authorization", `Bearer ${bearerToken}`);
    if (hostAuthToken) headers.set("X-OpenWork-Host-Token", hostAuthToken);

    try {
      const electron = await import("electron").catch(() => null);
      const fetcher = typeof electron?.net?.fetch === "function" ? electron.net.fetch.bind(electron.net) : fetch;
      const response = await fetcher(url, {
        headers,
        signal: controller.signal,
        credentials: "omit",
        cache: "no-store",
      });
      if (!response.ok) {
        throw new Error(`OpenWork workspace discovery failed (${response.status} ${response.statusText || "HTTP error"})`);
      }
      return await response.json();
    } finally {
      clearTimeout(timeout);
    }
  }

  async function discoverOpenworkWorkspace({ hostUrl, token, hostToken, directory }) {
    const list = await fetchOpenworkWorkspaceList(hostUrl, token, hostToken);
    return selectOpenworkWorkspaceForConnection(list, directory);
  }

  function normalizeWorkspaceEntry(input) {
    return {
      id: String(input.id),
      name: String(input.name ?? "Workspace"),
      path: String(input.path ?? ""),
      preset: String(input.preset ?? "starter"),

View on GitHub (pinned to 2b7df46e8a)

Solutions

Read the status in the message: 401/403 → refresh the OpenWork token; 404 → fix the base URL; 5xx → check server logs.
Verify the configured OpenWork server URL is reachable: curl -i <hostUrl>/<discovery-path> with the same headers.
Confirm the token/host pair matches the server (host restarts can invalidate tokens).

Example fix

// before
openworkHostUrl: "https://den.example.com"  // 404: API lives under /api
// after
openworkHostUrl: "https://den.example.com/api"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

const url = new URL(discoveryPath, openworkHostUrl);
if (url.protocol !== "https:" && url.protocol !== "http:") {
  throw new Error(`Invalid OpenWork host URL: ${openworkHostUrl}`);
}
// optionally pre-flight:
// const res = await fetch(url, { method: "HEAD" }); if (!res.ok) ...

Try / catch

try {
  return await discoverWorkspaces({ hostUrl, token });
} catch (err) {
  const m = /discovery failed \((\d+)/.exec(err.message);
  const status = m ? Number(m[1]) : 0;
  if (status >= 500 || status === 0) return retryWithBackoff();
  if (status === 401 || status === 403) throw new Error("Refresh your OpenWork token.");
  throw err;
}

Prevention

Validate the server URL (scheme, port, path) before saving it in settings.
Rotate tokens on server restarts; surface 401 as a sign-in prompt.
Add a health-check ping to the server before workspace discovery.

When it happens

Trigger: Any non-ok status from the discovery endpoint: 401/403 for bad or expired tokens, 404 for wrong URL path, 5xx from a broken server, 502/504 from a reverse proxy in front of the server.

Common situations: openworkHostUrl misconfigured (wrong port or path), stale openworkToken after server restart, server down while a proxy returns 502, DNS pointing at the wrong host.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Something went wrong' / 'Request failed (500)' / 'HTTP error! status: 404' — what failed HTTP requests actually mean and how to find the real cause — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of different-ai/openwork@2b7df46e8a (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6f9672411115fdec. Report an issue: GitHub.